


The Boy's Boggart

by Ifyouknowmeirlyoudont



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Angst, Boggarts, Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:35:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26465014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ifyouknowmeirlyoudont/pseuds/Ifyouknowmeirlyoudont
Summary: What if Harry's boggart wasn't a dementor, what if Harry's biggest fear was being that hurt little boy that was locked in a cupboard.Pls be nice this is the first thing I've ever written, the idea came to me and i couldn't not write it. there will probs be more chapters soon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	The Boy's Boggart

It was on an average Thursday afternoon that Harry, along with the rest of his Defence Against the Dark Arts class, found themselves piled into the dusty second-floor staffroom upon the instruction of Professor Lupin. Harry was stood towards the edge of the room with both Hermione and Ron by his side; he watched as Lupin successfully gathered the group into a vague horse-shoe shape and turned to smile at everyone.   
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why we have gathered here and not in my usual classroom” Lupin began, addressing the confused murmurs that where being voiced throughout the room. “Well,” he continued, “the answer to that would be over there.” He announced whilst pointing to what looked to be a wardrobe standing innocuously at the back of the room. At this most of the class, including Harry, perked up, trying to get a better look at the object. This was one of the things that made harry love magic and her world, how even the most mundane of objects could hold secrets. That even in his third year, things could still be surprising and wondrous. However, as Professor Lupin continued to talk, his childish excitement turned to dread that sat heavy in the pit of his stomach.  
A Boggart. That’s what was in the wardrobe, a creature that took the form of your worst fear. Harry was snapped from his daze at the sound of Lupin announcing that each of them would be facing the boggart to test the spell they had been learning, ‘Riddikulus’ his mind supplied, although he didn’t know how helpful that would be. ‘Brilliant’ he thought, his mind beginning to panic ‘What could possibly go wrong’.  
Harry knew this was going to suck, he was wracking his brain for a solution but couldn’t seem to find one, if only he knew what his boggart would turn into, there where quite a few contenders. Would it morph into the giant form of the basilisk he had defeated last year (could a boggart petrify you?), how about the melting face of Professor Quirrell or the soul-sucking dementors that wouldn’t leave him alone, of course Voldemort was also a viable option (although Harry was unsure what form he would take; the wraith that possessed Quirrell, the sadistic school boy Tom or the monster from his mind that slaughtered his parents). Blinking he looked around, his spiralling had gone on too long and his classmates had already begun to line up to face their fears, Harry found a place behind Ron and waited.   
One by one Harry’s classmates faced the boggart, each coming away shaken but laughing, their fears where valid of course but somewhat childish in Harry’s mind: bugs and ghouls, mummy’s and banshees, snakes and spiders. The last being Ron’s of course and now it was Harry’s turn, he braced himself for whatever would come.  
Nothing seemed to happen at first, some awkward chuckles where let out along with half mocking whispers about how ‘The Boy who Lived didn’t have any fears’. That’s when he heard it, stomping, as if it were coming from above him. Then, reverberating through the room, a sharp knocking and a voice he thought he had escaped from “Get up Freak its nearly 8 o’clock, you need to make breakfast!” The voice of his Aunt Petunia that had cut so many of his dreams short was slicing through him like a blade. A horrified “no” tumbled from Harry mouth before he could stop it, so quiet that, had the room not been silent, it would not have been heard. The boggart then, finally materialised in front of him. It was his cupboard door, the inside face of his cupboard door, he would recognise it anywhere having spent years staring at it. Harrys mind was screaming in denial as a second voice rang out “If you don’t get breakfast made on time you’ll get the buckle end of my belt tonight Boy and you can walk to Stonewall, ungrateful Freak” flinching at his uncles angry tone and very real threat Harry began shaking his head, horror coursing through him.  
“No, please, it can’t be a dream” the broken voice of the boy reached every ear in the room “I got away, Hagrid came for me”. The door to the cupboard began to open his uncles angry voice becoming louder as hands reached through attempting to grasp any part of Harry. The room around Harry seemed to crumble away, the only light coming through the crack in the door illuminated the four walls of his cupboard.  
“You’re a good for nothing Freak just like your parents, no wonder no one wants you, we should have drowned you when you first turned up on our doorstep!” The sound of Harry's panicked breath did nothing to drown out the screams of his uncle, he was on the edge of crumbling when he felt a small hand slip into his. Confusion was his first instinct, was someone in his cupboard?   
Turning his head, he was met with dark skin, dark eyes and bushy hair “It’s the boggart Harry, remember? It’s not real” Hermione whispered to him, sounding calm but the tears in her eyes spoke differently. Harry blinked and glanced around the room, he wasn’t in his cupboard, he was at Hogwarts. Taking strength from his friend he turned to face the boggart with a shaky but determined, “Riddikulus”.  
Nobody laughed at the outcome, but it seemed to work all the same, Lupin then finally took control forcing the boggart back into the wardrobe. Harry refused to lift his eyes from the place where to boggart had stood, shocked to the point where he didn’t notice Professor Lupin dismissing the class until everyone was gone except Hermione, who still clung to his hand, a red faced Ron and Lupin himself.


End file.
